the first quotation is from a book, from william riechart. you can convince other people to persuade you and then you vote and you win. the winners induce more than political persuasion, because they have set up in such a way that other people want to join them. even without any precision at all. this is what political strategy is about, structuring the world so you can win. that is the first quotation. the second is from our current majority leader harry reid, and he said in 2010, the republicans have had lots of opportunities to opeffer a menace. we will allow them to offer amendments. they are only willing to offer amendments they will win. i think this is a good way to start off the discussion of obstruction today, and the conventional view of many of you are aware of, the way that most people in academia and the media and on capitol hill think about obstruction. the minority party in the senate have a lot of procedural ways under the rules with which to theruct the agenda despitof majorities. parties have become increasingly polarized. t